From California to Brooklyn, to the deep South and interior West, Oklahoma’s Turnpike Troubadours will be embarking on an extensive U.S. tour starting March 30th in Baton Rouge, and ending in August at the Braun Brothers Reunion in Idaho. 39 dates in all will be encompassed in the tour over the next six months.
Saving Country Music has just added some fresh horses to its recently-launched Top 25 Current Spotify Playlist meant to be a centralized destination for top recommended songs and artists currently setting the pace in country, Americana, and the greater roots realm.
Three new inductees will be likely named in three distinct categories: Modern Era, Veteran’s Era, and “Non-Performer, Songwriter, and Recording and/or Touring Musician active prior to 1980.” Modern Era candidates are eligible for Hall of Fame induction 20 years after they first achieve national prominence, and Veterans Era candidates after 45 years.
What we know for sure is that Dot Records is no longer a label, at least for now. What we don’t know about is the fate of some of the artists that called the label home. Maddie & Tae, Drake White, and Staind frontman turned country artist Aaron Lewis have an uncertain future.
One of the things that has made Jason Isbell such an enlightening songwriter over the years is his distinctly worldly view panned to a Southern perspective. As a son of the deep South himself, he is incapable of trivializing the nuances of the culture war, deliberately speaking to both sides, and the flaws and virtues of each.
There are only four females total in the current country radio Top 40, and one of them is former American Idol contestant Lauren Alaina. No matter what opinion one holds on Lauren Alaina’s “Road Less Traveled” song, to see a female not named Ballerini crack the Top 5 is a miracle in itself.
We love to speak long and loudly about the virtues of younger, upsurging artists such as Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Cody Jinks, Margo Price, and others, and how they’re turning the country industry upside down with their successes. But why is Marty Stuart’s efforts going systematically overlooked?
Once considered rockabilly by some since most of her music carries an old-school backbeat and 50’s styling, it’s probably more relevant now to call Sallie Ford just plain rock, yet with a decidedly strong bent towards vintage modes which allows it to slither right into the soundscape of all old souls looking for something more their speed than the present day noise.
The biggest takeaway from SXSW 2017 will be that for the first time since the very inception of the idea over 30 years ago, the annual music gathering experienced a palpable draw down in attendance and industry participation to a degree that it fundamentally changed many of the dynamics and rigors one must endure to attend.
Chivalry may be dead, but it’s alive and well in the McGraw/Hill household. In a press release, the couple announced they will release a new single together called “Speak to a Girl” that will be shipping to country radio on March 23rd. It will be the first single off of a joint album with McGraw and Hill.
Like many of the legends of country music, Patsy Cline’s legacy will now be enshrined in a new museum in downtown Nashville, and in a familiar location. Housed on the 2nd floor of the bustling and successful Johnny Cash Museum at 119 Third Avenue South on lower Broadway, the Patsy Cline Museum will be opening its doors to the public on April 7th.
Despite years of controversy of whether Sam Hunt belongs in the country music realm, Saving Country Music runs down some of the reasons that Sam Hunt does perhaps belong in country music as opposed to the pop or EDM world.
For most artists, their careers start off by driving around in vans to club shows across the country, and if they’re lucky perhaps they graduate to a bus sometime down the road. Most artists start by making some noise in their home state, and then maybe hope to garner the attention of a national audience. For Sunny Sweeney, the arc has been nearly the opposite.
Nobody’s ever accused American Aquarium or its frontman BJ Barham of not working hard enough to achieve the dream. As one of the hardest touring outfits out there, they’ve earned every dedicated fan they have by sweating it out in clubs across the country, and putting every ounce of energy into the music.
Valerie June is the kind of cool everybody wants to be. She started out as roots music’s own little special creature with her primitive country Gospel soul songs—an unearthed gem of Americana made that much more cherished because it was a personal discovery way before the general population caught on.
Garth Brooks, take your free tickets to the Auditorium Shores stage and your Frito bags with your damn brand on them, and go back to Oklahoma and roll around naked in your massive, massive piles of money. You don’t belong at South By Southwest.
Despite the rumors and speculation, and Saving Country Music once naming him the “Country Music Antichrist,” apparently Scott Borchetta is indeed a mortal after all. We’re still trying to sift out what exactly has happened to the Big Machine Label Group’s Dot Records, which has apparently bit the bullet.
The Spring Fling is hosted by A. Michael Uhlmann, a native of Switzerland who moved to Austin over 25 years ago to cover Austin music. Held at the authentic local honky tonk called Giddy Ups south of town in an area called Manchanca (pronounced “Manchank” by locals), the Spring Fling tries to embody what Austin music used to be.
Wonder why pretty much every mainstream country single sounds ostensibly the same? It’s probably because they all pretty much do. Lill illustrates how nine songs on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart all employ the same exact drum beat, and within the same 15 or so beats per minute.
They say you have your life to write your first album, and there is a lifetime’s worth of stories and experiences in the very personal ‘Too Much Is Never Enough.’ AJ isn’t just channel surfing through soap operas looking for inspiration, it’s born from his own foggy recollections of what the hell went wrong in well-written songs.
Alt-country perennials The Old 97’s have been making the late night rounds to promote the release of their latest record Graveyard Whistling, and have been sharing that opportunity with some worthy east Nashville artists. Tuesday evening, The Old 97’s will be enjoying the company of Caitlin Rose on stage when they make an appearance on Conan O’Brien.
To show the great reverence that the ACM Awards take with these New Artists distinctions, and to shower incredible appreciation for the musical contributions of these fine performers, the ACM’s, with distinct honor, announced the winners of these awards on a random late Tuesday morning on freaking Twitter.
Dear Sally Williams, To begin, let me offer my sincere congratulations to you for ascending to the position of not just the new General Manager of the most esteemed and storied institution in all of country music, but as the General Manager, and Senior Vice President of Ryman Hospitality’s new Programming and Artist Relations Division.
Don Warden, who was one of the original members of the Porter Wagoner Trio, and spent nearly 50 years in service to Dolly Parton, passed away on Saturday, March 11th according to Dolly Parton and Don’s family. The news was revealed on Monday when Dolly paid tribute to her long-time manager and right hand man in a personal statement.
